You May Want to Sit Out "Dance of Shadows"


Dance of Shadows (Dance of Shadows, #1)
Title:  Dance of Shadows
Author:  Yelena Black
Format:  E-Galley
Length:  447 pages
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Rating:  1 star

Dancing with someone is an act of trust. Elegant and intimate; you're close enough to kiss, close enough to feel your partner's heartbeat. But for Vanessa, dance is deadly – and she must be very careful who she trusts . . .

Vanessa Adler attends an elite ballet school – the same one her older sister, Margaret, attended before she disappeared. Vanessa feels she can never live up to her sister's shining reputation. But Vanessa, with her glorious red hair and fair skin, has a kind of power when she dances – she loses herself in the music, breathes different air, and the world around her turns to flames . . .

Soon she attracts the attention of three men: gorgeous Zep, mysterious Justin, and the great, enigmatic choreographer Josef Zhalkovsky. When Josef asks Vanessa to dance the lead in the Firebird, she has little idea of the danger that lies ahead – and the burning forces about to be unleashed .

-Goodreads


 My Thoughts 
This was a book that seemed really scattered for the first 80% (sorry...read on Kindle) of this read.

The elements of which I speak are:

1.  The mystery surrounding Vanessa's older sister Margaret. You have to wonder why her mother let her go to the school that her sister disappeared from? There are some serious plausibility questions surrounding this plot line choice.

2.  The mystery surrounding the disappearance several other girls at the school.  There is just the "they dropped out" excuse.  A little digging around, but not enough to explain anything important.  You are never fully aware of what happens to them until the rush wrap up at the end of the book.

3.  The cat and mouse love "thing" between Zep and Vanessa.  For the most part, this seems forced.  She is "head over toe-shoes for him and he is there because he has to be.

   
4.  Justin is trying to be Vanessa's "common sense" in all this.  Trying to warn her of the danger of the
school, clue her in about what happened with her sister and so forth.  He could have been written as a great friend/love interest.  Instead, he is written as a jealous ass with stalker tendencies. 

5.  The paranormal aspect of this read was very controlled and confined.  When making that within the course of a read, it should be able breach definition and surprise the reader.  That was 
not  the case here.

6.  There were no surprises about Vanessa and the road that she was destined to travel in this book.This made here a very boring character as well.

In short, this book is like a fan fiction of the movie "Black Swan".  It had the potential to be so much more than what it was.  You should not have to wait until the last 20% of a book for the story to begin.
Sadly, the best thing about this book is the cover.


3 comments:

  1. The cover is beautiful, but I don't want to read a book that's that long and disappointing. Thanks for the review!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sad to hear that this wasn't good. I was looking forward to this one. Never judge a book by its cover I guess.

    ReplyDelete

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